Combination box and table.



C. SCHMITT.

COMBINATION BOX AND TABLE.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 6. I9l7.

Patented Aug. 7, 1917.

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APPLICATION FILED JAN. 6, I917.

Patented Aug. 7,1917.

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CONRAD SCHMITT, 0F REINBECK, IOWA.

COMBINATION BOX AND TABLE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aw. v, 1917.

Application filed January 6, 1917. Serial No. 141,010.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, CONRAD SoHMrr'r, a citizen of the United Stat-es of America, and a resident of Reinbeck, Grundy county, Iowa, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Combination Boxes and Tables, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in combination boxes and tables, and the object of my improvement is to furnish a table constructed of foldable parts and connections, and which can also be folded together and supplied with removable end closures to then become a box or container capable of receiving and containing articles, and which shall also be compact and transportable on a vehicle.

This object I have accomplished by the means which are hereinafter described and claimed, and which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is an under plan view of the permanently connected parts of said device as unfolded and laid out flat before the table-legs are extended, and showing the end-closures detached and laid aside; Fig. 2 is a like view of said device, with the legs extended, but omitting the end-closures; Fig. 3 is an end elevation of the table as folded into box form, without an end-closure and Fig. 1 is a cross-section of the box shown in Fig. 3 looking toward an end-closure in position thereon; Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the device as a table with legs extended, and inverted; Fig. 6 represents enlarged details of oppositely-located table legs with their connections and supports; Fig. 7 is a perspective view of the device as folded into a box with the end-closures secured thereon, and Fig. 8 is a side elevation of a motorvehicle, with my foldable box located and secured upon its running-board.

Similar numerals of reference denote corresponding parts throughout the several views.

Referring first to Figs. 1 to 4 inclusive, the device in its main part comprises a plurality of oblong plates 1 of metal or other suitable material, having hinge-connections 2. Each plate 1 has secured along its longitudinal edges the marginal strips 4 and along its ends the strips 3, the end strips 3 having longitudinal grooves 11.

The numeral 5 denotes table-legs positioned at the outer corners of the outermost ployed as desired.

plates and hinged at 10 to the overlying plate 1. Side-hinges 9 are also used to connect each leg with the outer longitudinal strip ff adjacent to the leg, the hinge being of the type which when extended has its parts alined on a dead-center in a wellknown manner to thus prop the leg in its extended position, the leg being held also by having one side in engagement with the abutting face of the adjacent end-strip 3. The legs 5 are also propped or held firmly in their extended positions by means of sidebraces 6. Each brace 6 has one end hinged at 7 to a leg 5 near the plate 1 and as is shown in Fig. 2, when extended crosses the plates 1 to have its free end engaged in a forked clip 8 mounted on an opposite leg 5.

\Vhen the parts of the device are laid out in an inverted position as shown in said Fig. 1, the legs 5 are folded inwardly toward each other, the hinges 9 being collapsed together, and each brace 6 is also swung over to lie parallel with said legs with its free end engaged in the clip 8 on the other of the pair of legs upon which it is so folded, thus securing these parts close to the inner face of the abutting plate 1 so as to leave a large space in the interior of the box when the plates 1 are folded together.

The numeral 14 denotes an end-closure, one of a pair used to close the ends of the box formed by the folding of the plates 1 together into a hollow prism. This endclosure may be made of a rectangular plate of metal or other material, having thereon spaced from its edges the boxed strips 13, the strips 13 having longitudinal ribs 12 along their outer edges also spaced from the plate 14 adapted to fit into the grooves 11 on the end strips 3 on the plates 1, when the plates 1 are folded about said closures, to hold the closures in place. On the inner edges of certain of the strips 3 are screweyes 16 to receive hooks 15 on the strips 13 of said end-closures, whereby the end-clo- ]source may be detachably secured within the When the plates 1 are folded together into a box, one plate 1 serves as a lid, and has on one edge studs adapted to be engaged by hinged clips 18 on the adjoining plate 1, to detachably secure the lid, but of course other fastening-means may be em- Handles 17 may be mounted upon the outer faces of said endclosures 14.

WVhen the parts of said device are folded together and the end-closures mounted therein, the lid being secured, the hollow box thus formed may be used to contain any articles desired, and the box may be mounted upon the running-board 19 of a vehicle 20, and secured thereon by cross-bars 21 connected by bolts and nuts 22 and 23 or by any other fastening-means which may be suitable for the purpose. This makes the de vice especially useful and convenient for use in transporting picnic supplies, campstools or other articles, and the device may easily be demounted from the transporting vehicle, its lid raised, end-closures removed, plates 1 unfolded and legs extended and then turned over to supply a camp table.

It is to be understood that minor changes in the form, dimensions and other relations of the parts of my device may be made without departing from my invention herein.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a device of the character described, a plurality of body-sections foldably connected together, legs hinged at the outer corners of the outer sections to fold toward each other longitudinally thereupon in aline= ment, two diagonally disposed legs having engagingmeans thereon, and braces hinged to the other diagonally disposed legs, said braces when the legs are extended unfolding to engage said engaging-means on the opposite legs, and when the legs are folded folding to engage the engaging-means on the legs to which they are hinged.

2. In a device of the character described, a plurality of body-sections hinged together to be unfolded into a planar table-top, corner-supports foldably connected to the outer corners of the outer sections, means for bracing the said corner-supports in an extended position, said parts being foldable together to supply a hollow box, means for retaining the corner-supports in their folded positions in a box thus formed, consisting of said bracing-means engaged in alternated positions, and end-closures detachably secured in the ends of a box so formed.

Signed at Waterloo, Iowa, this 1st day of J an. 1917. V

CONRAD SCHMITT. Witnesses: v PEARL STANTON, G. G. KENNEDY.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. O. 

